LPS and other coral colours problem.

[Saintnovakai]

Hey guys. I have a query. I have euphyllia and a few other corals under my Hydra 52HDs 16 inches above the tank for good spread, running the AB+ spectrum. My tank is 18" high and I have 16 inches of water. My Lux at surface is 20k. Nitrates 5, PO4 0.02, Alk 9 and Calc 440.

My issue is that I can't get my frogspawn and a few other corals to colour up. They are pale. I was thinking too much light so I lowered it. Not seeing much if a difference yet after a month. My red Digi is frozen and hasn't grown. I don't know why my corals aren't more brilliant.

That weird Monti down on the sandbed is growing well but pale and washed out. Ideas guys?

 

[OREGONIC]

You could try raising your phosphates a little. I have better color in the .05-.10 range.

 

[Saintnovakai]

You could try raising your phosphates a little. I have better color in the .05-.10 range.

Hmmm. Worth a try I suppose. Are the polyps on some frogspawn opaque?

 

[OREGONIC]

Some of mine are still semi translucent but others darkened up a lot and are a solid color. I have one colony that is about 17 heads and the smaller ones towards the bottom are darker then the ones that are larger towards the top. The top ones are not only more translucent but they expand much larger making them look even more translucent. I did notice a big difference in color tho just by upping the phosphates some. If I go above .10 I do notice my sand bed begins to get diatoms. Its a balancing act and I have found the best way to control nitrates and phosphates is to dose them to my auto top off water. At least thats what works in my system. To many other issues if I feed heavier to try to raise them.

 

[Saintnovakai]

Well I have literally just two fish so I'll feed a bit more and hope stuff does t go awry.